Trying to perform a clean install on my 2013 Macbook Air and I'm unable to

Prior to wiping it clean, my 2013 Macbook Air was running MacOS Sierra.


Trying to reboot into Internet Recovery Mode (Option + Command + R) and receiving an error (apple.com/support and beneath the link it says -5101F).


Going into Recovery Mode (Command + R), it brings me to disk utility. I'm unable to "Reinstall MacOS Sierra" as it keeps sending a notification stating "An error has occurred while preparing the installation"


The left pane in the Disk Utility window shows the following:

(Internal)

  • APPLE SSD SM0128G MEDIA
  • OS X BASE SYSTEM

(Disk Images)

  • Apple disk image Media
  • OS X BASE SYSTEM


So, no Macintosh HD.


I've tried numerous things and am at a complete loss.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you.



Posted on Mar 14, 2025 01:21 PM

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Mar 17, 2025 08:44 PM in response to Franksonatra

Within Disk Utility you need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical internal SSD and erase it as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). Quit Disk Utility and select "Reinstall macOS Sierra".


Ignore all of the "Disk Images" listed on the left pane of Disk Utility since those are just virtual volumes for the macOS installer.

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Trying to perform a clean install on my 2013 Macbook Air and I'm unable to

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